Last Chance
by Mystic8668
Summary: Someone’s back, the problem is they’re back with no recollection of their life, or even their name. He’s remembered, but the people that knew him are just wondering how he is back. Second chances are few, but how will he use his last chance?
1. Chapter One

Last Chance  
  
Summary: Someone's back, the problem is they're back with no recollection of their life, or even their name. He's remembered, but the people that knew him are just wondering how he is back. Second chances are few, but how will he use his last chance?  
  
Notes: Paige and Phoebe never moved out but everything else in Chris Crossed has happened.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: Charmed, sadly, doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the WB network and all those happy people.  
  
A man opened his eyes as he awoke from what seemed like an eternal slumber. He peered around him, his brown eyes sparkling with curiosity, 'Where am I?' he thought. Slowly he rose from his crouching position on the ground. It was night, the sky was filled with thousands of stars and the moon was full from what he could tell. As his thoughts began to come to him he realized he had no idea where he was, or who he was for that matter.  
  
"Hello?" He asked into the darkness. There was no reply. He looked down; he was wrapped in a white robe without any shoes. Then it hit him, he remembered –gold robes? That didn't sound right, but he remembered gold, hooded robes. It was the only thing he could remember. 'This makes no sense, who am I? Where am I?' He asked himself trying to remember something, anything at all.  
  
"Is anyone there, please?" He asked getting desperate now. To his distress he was alone. He looked down at the grown where green grass was growing with slight dew covering it already. 'This is not a good time to be sleep walking, or what ever is going on.' He walked slowly and unsurely through the grass, he was guessing it was a park. Unconsciously he ran his fingers through his short brown hair. Then, he felt his face he could feel a five o'clock shadow forming. 'Funny, I know how to talk and I know what a five o'clock shadow is but I have no idea who the hell I am.' He thought then began to speak, "What is this somebody's idea of a stupid joke?" He asked into the darkness.  
  
Joke. He remembered that word from before...he remembered himself asking "Are you for real, after everything I've done, is this a joke?" As he walked he could see a light, it was a streetlight. The streetlight was right next to a sidewalk. 'Thank gawd, I don't know how much more wondering I could take.' He walked to the sidewalk and decided to follow it deeper inside of the city.  
  
He saw someone walking into the small corner store, "Hey, can I ask you something?"  
  
The man looked him up and down curiously then said, "I guess, go ahead." He said leaning against the side of the building.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"We're right by Prescott Street, in San Francisco. Are you ok?" The man asked him, he had bright blue eyes and hair that hung into his face; he had a visible freckle on the side of his nose. "I'm...I'm fine, just a little confused." He said then continued walking down the sidewalk as the man behind him shrugged and walked into the store.  
  
Phoebe Halliwell sat up in bed quickly, "Oh no..." She said softly looking at the clock it was 10:30 P.M. 'I must have fallen asleep.' She thought as she rubbed her eyes sitting up. Paige walked by her door, and then walked back after she saw Phoebe was awake.  
  
"Hey, you must have been really tired after that headache." Paige said leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"What? Oh...yeah, that." Phoebe said and then self-consciously looked down at her hands.  
  
"What's the matter?" Paige asked concerned as she walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to her sister.  
  
"I just, I had this dream...maybe a premonition? I'm not sure." Phoebe began.  
  
"That would explain why you had that headache, it was your body telling you to take a nap or something, what was it about?" She asked her as she pulled her light red hair behind her head and out of her face.  
  
"Cole." Phoebe said softly as she looked to Paige for her reaction.  
  
"You must be really stressed out or something and it couldn't have been a premonition because we vanquished him in the alternate universe, well me and alternate you and Piper." Paige said not so sure herself, she wasn't scared of a lot of things but Cole was one person that scared her, mostly because of his immortality.  
  
"I think it was real, I know I haven't dreamt about him in a long time, but it wasn't bad and he wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just so lost, kind of like he didn't know where he was?" She said half asking her self, "I could feel him, he was so confused."  
  
"You used your empathy in your dream? Are you sure it wasn't just your feelings, about you moving to Hong Kong with Jason, you have been confused about what to do." Paige suggested.  
  
"I don't think so...it was so real. He was in the city to, in one of the parks and he started walking up to someone but I woke up." Phoebe said rubbing her temples in an attempt to calm herself down.  
  
Just then Piper walked in the room with Wyatt on her hip, "Geeze, Chris takes forever to pick up baby food doesn't he?" She asked and then saw the looks on their faces, "What's wrong with you two, it looks like you've seen a ghost."  
  
"Oh you don't know how right you can be sometimes." Phoebe said looking at her older sister.  
  
"What? Are you saying there's a ghost in the house? That's horrible, someone's going to have to die temporarily, or we're going to have to find the bones or..." Piper said then was interrupted.  
  
"No, there's not a ghost in the house. Phoebe had a dream about Cole." Paige explained putting her arm around her sister.  
  
"Oh honey, don't get worried, it was just a bad dream." Piper said in a motherly tone.  
  
"She thinks it was a premonition." Paige said before Phoebe could talk.  
  
"I can speak for myself." Phoebe said sternly and Paige looked away hurt, "I'm sorry Paige, I'm just a little on edge. You know, I've finally gotten used to him being gone, but now I start dreaming about him again? It makes no sense, and it felt so real."  
  
"I've had dreams that have felt real before to, but it's usually just a dream." Piper said trying to comfort her as Wyatt began to cry, "CHRIS, HURRY UP!" She shouted into the air.  
  
"I'm here, rejoice!" He said as his orbs formed in the room then turned into him carrying a bag filled with mashed foods, "I didn't know how many to get so I got every kind."  
  
"I told you to get peas and carrots. Not..." Piper said as she took the bag from his hand, "Ham, and asparagus and every other kind that the company makes."  
  
"Sorry, I forgot, because the weirdest thing happened. Well not necessarily the weirdest because I've seen a lot of things, but this guy in a plain white robe walked up to me and asked me where he was. I think he might be an innocent for you guys to save, I just don't understand why he would come to me instead of one of you." Chris said then began to explain his appearance, Phoebe's eyes widened as Piper and Paige tensed up.  
  
Phoebe got off of her bed and walked to her night stand. She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a picture frame. The picture was of her and Cole smiling in the park. "Was this him?" She asked Chris.  
  
Chris took the picture frame from her and looked at it then back at her, "Who is he?" He asked her cautiously.  
  
"Don't beat around the bush, Chris. Was it him or not?" Paige asked worriedly.  
  
"Yeah, it was him. What's the big deal is he an ex of yours or something?" Chris asked the only one confused be all of it.  
  
"He's Balthazar. He was the one who was immortal, couldn't be killed. You know, he made the different timeline where he was the Source still and Phoebe was still his Queen, he got vanquished. You know the whole story; I know you've read the Book of Shadows a thousand times by now." Piper said to him.  
  
"That's crazy; you vanquished him, didn't you?" Chris asked.  
  
"We thought we did, Paige you were there, we vanquished him didn't we?" Piper asked as she turned to look at Paige.  
  
"He wasn't immortal then, we said the spell and vanquished him, I saw him blow up, there was no way he was coming back after that." Paige said making sure she didn't just make it up in her mind.  
  
"He's back, and he's lost and confused. What is going on?" Phoebe asked rhetorically as she went to the window so they couldn't see the tears forming in her eyes. How could Cole be back? She had spent so much time trying to get over him, and then she found Jason and things were perfect, right? No more big bad evil, no more evil Phoebe everything was good, or as good as things could be being a Charmed One.  
  
"Don't worry Phoebe, everything is going to be ok, maybe Chris is mistaken." Piper said trying to calm her down and Wyatt down all at once.  
  
"I can't make mistakes, too many things could happen, so believe me I know that the man that talked to me is the same as the guy in that picture." Chris said slightly annoyed.  
  
Piper looked at him sternly and walked out the door with the bag of baby food jars in hand to go and feed the fussing Wyatt.  
  
"The question isn't whether or not you were wrong, Chris, the question is why Cole is back." Paige said shaking her head, apparently fears do come back to haunt you.  
  
"No, I don't think he even knows what's going on. He obviously didn't know where he was, and even if he didn't why wouldn't he just shimmer out of there? It would be much easier to go and talk to a demon then to go up to a white lighter witch who is buying baby food." Phoebe said simply.  
  
"That's a good point I'll go check it out with the Elders." Chris said nodding, then orbed out.  
  
"Don't worry sweetie, everything's going to be ok." Paige said hugging Phoebe; she didn't know who she was trying to comfort more, her sister or her self.  
  
"I hope so." Phoebe whispered.  
  
Cole wandered down the sidewalk further as the stores around him shut off their lights. 'It must be getting pretty late and I don't know where I even live. Wonderful.' He wrapped the white robe around himself tighter to keep out the cold that was setting in. When he first awoke he remembered that he didn't feel a thing, he felt...he didn't know how to explain it but perhaps at peace? 'I can never have peace.' A voice in the back of his mind said. He said it aloud. It sounded familiar, too. He realized it started to get bright around him, he looked around and the store owners who were going to their cars had frozen in place.  
  
"What's going on?" Cole shouted into the night, whoever he was he didn't know how he could put up with this kind of stuff, or even if it was a normal occurrence. 'Don't worry.' An unfamiliar voice said to him, though he didn't hear it, then suddenly he watched himself turn into blue orbs and felt himself rising.  
  
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he let out the breath he had been holding when he turned back into a solid person. Around him he could see the hooded gold robes, the ones he could remember before.  
  
"We gave you a new chance, and you couldn't even remember what we had told you." One of them said as they walked up to him, he didn't dare move. It was a female voice who was trying to sound comforting, "We decided you, and just you not the other half needed, a chance at living by yourself, you tried before." She touched her palm to the side of his head and a golden light radiated from it. Cole's eyes widened as pictures and memories filled his head, though there was no memory of any Charmed Ones, or of a wife and child he once had.  
  
"Do you know what you were sent back to do now?" One of the other hooded figures asked him, male voice this time.  
  
Cole nodded, finally understanding, though not comprehending how he could forget so much.  
  
"You have a job now, much like your old one, you're an attorney once more. You live in an apartment, by yourself, and you will help people. You will repay your debts to the world as your live, and you will live with a second chance. You will protect people and guide them, the best that you can."  
  
Cole nodded once more and felt it was time to go, he concentrated and he orbed out of the gold robe-filled area and down into his apartment. He would collect his thoughts later. 


	2. Chapter Two

Last Chance  
  
Notes: Paige and Phoebe never moved out but everything else in Chris Crossed has happened.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: Charmed, sadly, doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the WB network and all those happy people. Maybe one day. I can only wish.  
  
Phoebe Halliwell awoke the next morning with a sense of calm, that is until she remembered the previous night events and put her pillow over her head.  
  
"Phoebe wake up, you're going to be late for work!" Piper called from downstairs in the kitchen.  
  
Phoebe sighed heavily and pulled her head out from underneath her pillow and blinked from the bright light shining in through her window. Then she slowly got dressed and made her way downstairs.  
  
"Morning sunshine." Paige said to her sister sarcastically as she took a small bite of a red apple in her hand. Next to her was her trusty entertainment section of the newspaper that she had just finished reading.  
  
Phoebe smiled while glaring at her, "Do you think we should do anything today? You know with Cole out there, what if he comes after one of us if we're separated?" She asked them worriedly.  
  
Piper sighed, "Phoebe, if he is back, don't you think he's going to wait to attack? He has to come up with some sort of plan of action." She said as she finished washing the dishes and sat at the table next to her sisters, and Wyatt in his highchair.  
  
"He's had enough time to come up with a plan of attack I'm betting, with wherever he went." Paige said  
  
"You're such a booster in the morning." Piper said feeding Wyatt his breakfast.  
  
"I try." Paige said then stood, "I've got a new temp. job I'm starting today, so I don't want to miss my first day. I have my phone," She stopped and showed them, "so if you guys need me call and I'll orb back."  
  
They said their goodbyes and Paige made her way out to her car. She had the address of her new job in the car, she looked at it, and in big letters across the top it said Stanley and Wilde Attorneys at Law. She was the secretary to the newest attorney on the team. From what she had heard he left town for a while for some down time, and now he was back with the new job.  
  
She turned the steering wheel in her hands and then pressed on the brakes when she came to a red light right across the street from the building. It was tall and made of red brick, and it didn't look imposing at all.  
  
"Maybe nothing strange will happen at this one." Paige said under her breath to herself, she hoped that would be just the case.  
  
Than, a few minutes later after she had parked her car she walked up the small steps and into the building foyer. There was a large desk at the back wall where a small woman sat, answering phones and controlling who entered the building. The lobby was full of potted trees and vases, they apparently enjoyed nature and Paige already liked it.  
  
"Hi, I'm Paige Matthews. I'm the new secretary..." She said trailing off with a smile on her face.  
  
"Oh hello Ms. Matthews, I've been expecting you this morning. I'll show you to your office and from there you will meet your new boss." The woman smiled warmly and stood up from her large computer chair, "By the way my name is Sandra Woods, just thought I would introduce myself." Sandra looked to be as old as Paige give or take a few years. She had blonde hair that fell just above her shoulders, and blue sparkling eyes.  
  
They walked down the hall next to her desk which led to room upon room where the secretaries and attorneys worked. Finally, they reached the end of the hall and came to an almost empty room connected to a room with a closed door.  
  
"This will be your office, and there's your computer and here's the filing cabinet..." Sandra said pointing out the various objects for Paige to use, "So I'll let you get acquainted with your new boss and set up everything the way you want." She smiled and walked away.  
  
Paige looked around the room; it was very plain and businesslike. Soon enough it would be filled with pictures of her family and various other trinkets. She sat down in her computer chair and waited for her new boss to come out. She didn't know if they were busy or not, so she didn't want to interrupt them. Paige looked inside the drawers in her desk and there were all the necessities: a stapler, scissors, pens, pencils, paper, memo pads, paperclips, and other things she might need to use.  
  
Paige stood up and walked over to her window to open the curtains and let the light shine in. She pulled back the drape into its holder, and then the door to the other office opened. She jumped and turned around, "Oh hi I'm Paige..." She began than trailed off. The man came into her field of vision, and she immediately realized who it was: Cole.  
  
"Scissors!" She shouted and the scissors orbed and she motioned her hand to send them flying at him. Before they could reach him, he turned into bright orbs and then back to place after the scissors had fell.  
  
Paige put her hand over her mouth in astonishment, what was going on?  
  
"Paige, please don't do that!" Cole said shaken, he stepped forward and Paige stepped back. He stopped, "It is ok..."  
  
"No, no it is not ok. We vanquished you, you are a demon, and you are dead. How did you orb?" Paige asked running her fingers through her hair, still in shock.  
  
"I'm not a demon anymore," Cole began, "I'm a whitelighter."  
  
"That's crazy! Who in their right mind would make you into a whitelighter? You've got to have some sort of twisted plan to get Phoebe back or kill us or something!" Paige said beginning to shout.  
  
"No, no I'm not. I didn't plan any of this, I thought I was going to be dead to when you vanquished me, but I guess the Elders had other plans. I was up there the whole time." He said pointing to the ceiling.  
  
Paige backed up into her filing cabinet and cut her shoulder on its sharp edge, "I'll prove it to you! I'll heal your arm." Cole said putting his hands together ready to heal for the first time.  
  
"I don't think so buddy." Paige said and touched the cut and winced, "Ok, I'll let you try, but if you do anything to hurt me I will get my sisters and we will vanquish you again."  
  
Cole walked forward while Paige kept her gaze directly on him, waiting for him to try something...anything. He put his hands up to her shoulder where the cut was and concentrated on the trigger, love. He concentrated on what he once had with Phoebe and his hands began to glow the gold color and soon her wound disappeared. Paige was astonished.  
  
"You did it. You're a whitelighter, but how?" She asked looking at him, trying to trust him now, but she couldn't do it so easily.  
  
"They said my human me needed another chance. It's my last chance they said. If I screw up again, I'm done for."  
  
"I have to tell Phoebe and Piper!" Paige said quickly pulling out her cell phone and getting ready to speed dial the manor.  
  
"No!" Cole shouted his eyes wide, "I didn't plan on any of you finding out. All I was going to do was take care of my charges." He paused, "I don't want to hurt her again." He turned away from Paige.  
  
"You won't hurt her, how could you hurt her? You're an angel now!" Paige said trying to assure him it was the right thing to do.  
  
"No, no one can know, not Phoebe, not Piper, not even your new whitelighter."  
  
"How do you know about Chris?" Paige asked confused.  
  
"They kept me informed." Cole said simply, and that was just what they did. They had let him watch and feel all of what had happened through Phoebe's eyes, to show him that she had changed and wasn't the same person that she was before. They showed him to get her out of his mind and heart, so he wouldn't go running after her once they made him a whitelighter.  
  
Paige looked at him, surveying the man that he had become. How could she trust someone who had been so evil? She was still unwilling, but the whitelighter side of her was urging her to give him a chance, "I don't know what to think."  
  
Cole's eyes flashed with a brilliant blue and went back to normal; he had a dazed look across his face. "Well for starters, my name is Cole Turner and I guess I'm going to be your new boss." He said extending his arm forward a formal smile upon his face.  
  
"Wow, real funny Cole, I'm trying to be serious..." Paige began putting her hand on his shoulder.  
  
Cole stood straighter, "I know if in past jobs you may have had close relationships with your employer but I would like to keep this as businesslike as I can." He said with what Paige thought was sincerity.  
  
"Do you have amnesia or something?" Paige sighed exasperated.  
  
"What?" Cole asked good-naturedly.  
  
"Never mind." Paige mumbled feeling defeated.  
  
What is going on with him she asked herself and pulled her hand away and put on her best smile, maybe he was actually losing his mind...again. "Oh...uh...Mr. Turner you know, I was just messing around trying to lighten up this meeting. I guess I'll get to work with whatever you have for me to start with."  
  
"Oh its fine, it's fine. I'll just have you add all my clients' files to the computer; you know phone numbers addresses all that good stuff. It'll just start off simple for today; I don't want to throw you into mounds of work for your first day. That would be pretty cruel."  
  
"You don't like cruelty?" Paige asked taking the opportunity to question him during his lapse of memory. Perhaps one of her sisters had cast a truth spell of some sort gone awry? It didn't seem likely but it was always possible. Now Paige was starting to feel vulnerable and her adrenaline that had been building was running off, and to tell the truth she wished her sisters were there.  
  
"Of course I don't!" Cole laughed, "I was wondering what kind of reputation this place had, and I didn't know it was that bad."  
  
Paige nodded with the smile still plastered across her face.  
  
Cole walked into his office and closed the door. Paige backed against the wall and stared at it, waiting for him to jump out and yell surprise, the joke was on her. He never did. Whatever was going on with him now must be worse than the last time around when he lost it, she thought bitterly. It was just her luck to get stuck with him again; the powers that be always had a funny way of kicking her in the butt.  
  
She figured she wouldn't call Piper or Phoebe and get them worried, for now it seemed she was safe. Trying to be as casual as possible, she walked over to her desk and turned on the computer ready to face the reality that she was actually at work...and that involved doing work.  
  
Cole opened his office window and stuck his head out with his hands on the ledge. He was breathing heavily and he felt as if he was going to pass out.  
  
"What's wrong with me?" He asked himself under his breath. He wiped his face with his sleeve where small droplets of sweat had seemed to appear.  
  
Clear your thoughts, concentrate, he told himself. He was a whitelighter and whitelighters knew how to calm others down, and themselves in situations where they were under large amounts of stress. The thing was he didn't know why he was feeling under so much stress all that had happened was he met his new secretary. It wasn't like he knew her from anywhere did he? Of course he couldn't have, he died, and he was up there. They decided he was worthy to become a whitelighter because of all the good he had done when he was alive. That was it wasn't it? He asked himself this over and over. This was the only way people were chosen to be whitelighters in the first place.  
  
The funny thing was, he couldn't remember anything that had happened while he was alive. He couldn't remember the first half of his conversation with the new secretary Paige either.  
  
"It's a test, they're testing me. Maybe she's a new charge and I'm supposed to guide her." He said to himself confidently. Yes that was it. He was supposed to lead this girl to the right path, but there was a problem. He couldn't keep his mind on anything but one name; a name that seemed so familiar, but was slipping his memory.  
  
Phoebe.  
  
Please read and review, if you like it, if not. I know this isn't exactly what the summary said it would be like...but my ideas changed, so I hoped for the best. 


End file.
